Development on Gold Coast flood plain to have lifeboats, emergency food

Kim Stephens

A Gold Coast developer will have to provide two lifeboats, a helipad, a three day food supply and a tractor at a residential estate it plans to build due to concerns over its placement on a flood plain.

The unusual conditions are expected to be imposed next week by Gold Coast City Council, which it says is unable to prevent the development.

Gold Coast City Council plans to force a developer building on a flood plain to provide two lifeboats, a helipad, a three day food supply and a tractor which can be kept at the site.

The $300 million dollar project will be known as Cypress Central and will feature eight buildings, the highest of which will be 19 storeys on 25 hectares.

Deputy mayor Donna Gates said despite widespread opposition to the residential plan, council would have no choice but to approve the proposal because a recent court ruling which allowed an adjacent development to go ahead set a legal precedent.

In a bid to ensure the safety of residents at the proposed 970-dwelling Carrara estate in the event of a flood the council decided to impose the strict, and rather unorthodox, protective measures, she said.

"The road network around the site is not constructed to a one-in-one-hundred-year flood level," Cr Gates said.

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"We do need developments of this nature to cope with our growing population, but for my part the Queensland floods were a reminder to us all of the huge responsibility we have when looking at applications to ensure the community is protected."

Cr Gates said the developer had ticked all the legal planning boxes, so any council attempt to block it would cost it money in defending the decision through the appeals process.

"If there are no legal planning grounds for refusal, despite your very best efforts to represent the views of the people, often the courts decide without any emotion whatsoever to overturn council decisions, looking at land use and the land use alone," Cr Gates said.

"...It is hard sometimes for the community to understand the decision, but we need to be mindful of the costs of appeals," she said.

"Despite public opinion we need to act in line with the law."

The proposal is scheduled to go before council next Wednesday, after receiving planning committee approval this week.

A spokesman for developer THG said it would not comment on the measures until after next week's council meeting.

Plans for an aged care facility at the 25 hectare site were abandoned due to safety concerns.